German Court Rules That Internet Is An “Essential” Part Of Life

Don’t you just hate it when your internet acts up, leaving you frustrated especially since there’s really nothing you can do about it and hope that your ISP gets it fixed ASAP. For the most part, not having internet is not a huge deal as there are plenty of other activities one can engage in, but for business users this could be a major problem as it could result in money lost, deals falling through and etc. Now interestingly it seems that over in Germany, the courts have ruled that customers have a right to demand compensation from their service providers in the event that their internet access is disrupted.

Apparently this is because they deem that internet has evolved into an “essential” part of life, and this sentiment was echoed by a court spokeswoman who said, “The Internet plays a very important role today and affects the private life of an individual in very decisive ways. Therefore loss of use of the Internet is comparable to the loss of use of a car.” It’s a pretty interesting observation as maybe more than a decade ago, the internet was still considered somewhat of a luxury and the 56k dial-up modem reigned supreme.

This combined with the fact that we have become so reliant on search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Bing, along with social networks like Facebook and Twitter that it’s almost unheard of for someone not to have a Facebook account. Game companies also play a role in our dependence on the internet, such as multiplayer features that enhance the gaming experience, and the always-on feature found on games such as Diablo and StarCraft that used to be playable offline with no internet connection. What do you guys make of this? Is it a scary thought that the internet has become an “essential” part of our lives now?